Beautiful Disaster, This is Perfection
by ZomTatoZom
Summary: In the city, it's not uncommon for cats to crawl from nothing and rise to awaken a kingdom. It's also not unheard of to fall from that grace. Rafty was a gangster. A traitor. A liar. He was also a king, once. And this is his legacy.
1. The Girl Underwater

**SPECIAL THANKS TO:  
**Everyone on AA who set up the _perfect _scenario for Rafty's life =3  
And of course, to Gentle for coming up with Rafty's name and basic character set-up for me to build off of.  
You and everyone else rock! =D

**Beautiful Disaster**

**Prologue:  
****The Girl Underwater**

The she-cat was loved by her house-folk. They fed her, pet her, kept her warm during the long leaf-bare nights. It was with them that she had a home, and it seemed no matter what she did, they were forgiving. Take the time she'd knocked over their son's paint set and ruined their fuzzy den floor. They'd yelled only briefly before scooping her up and stroking her head, as if apologizing for scolding her. She loved her life and her twolegs. Until she met someone she loved more. And then things went upside down. Her twolegs only had enough affection for one cat, so when the kits came, their sympathy for the feline hit an all time low. Her kits were taken, and from this point on their mother was forgotten to this story.

By the side of the Thunderpath was where the twolegs left them. The box they lay inside was flimsy, but too high for them to climb out. Besides, they were but 2 or 3 weeks of age before being kidnapped and abandoned. Their pitiful mewls were drowned out by the roar of passing monsters. Not even the stray cats of the city bothered with the kits. It was every feline for themselves.

Not several days after being dropped off, 2 kits had died of starvation or cold. Perhaps even trauma. No one knew for sure. The 3 remaining kits' fate looked bleak. That is, until along came a guardian angel in the form of a 10-year old twoleg girl skipping ahead of her parents. When she saw the box of squealing babies, she instantly scooped up the biggest one. The kit was a bright-eyed she-cat with the creamiest coat of honeydew that the girl had ever seen. Her parents, fairly new to the whole concept of raising a child, were the kind of starters who were fearful of angering their daughter and therefore spoiled her quite badly. The girl wanted the kit and its littermates, but, having the sense to set a boundary somewhere, the adults said one was all they could take responsibility for. And so, the kit was named Anabelle and was taken to her new home in the suburbs. She was too young to miss or remember her littermates. It would come as no expense to her when a rainstorm 2 days later drowned them in the box, their trapped forms left to float and rot in the murky water.

For the most part, Anabelle led a normal kittypet life. Her twolegs were better off than most, and so she always had a bowl of warm milk and a tuna-filled stomach to lull her to sleep. She was raised with the taste of bottled drink on her tongue and the stroke of bare skin hands through her fur. For the most part, the adults were tolerant of her rather needy nature. They gave her a stern love. To say they were fond of the she-cat was even an understatement. It was really their kit that was in love with the kittypet. Anabelle was quite patient with their daughter. The girl liked to brush the she-cat's fur and stroke her just the right way, between Anabelle's ears. The kittypet was spoiled, with a plump belly and shiny tags that her twoleg girl polished every night.

The she-cat was naive and prissy, and she thought that others envied her and wanted to be her. She did charity for neighboring cats or strays, thinking she was a compassionate cat when, subconsciously, she was doing it to feel better about herself. She'd never ventured outside the city, but did like to hear stories from those who passed through. She was quite a pretty she-cat, so it wasn't hard for her to get the daily dose of gossip.

And then he came along. He was a small tom, thin and wiry with half a tail protruding from his rump. His claws, jagged and several missing, had torn through earth and sky. He was a scraggly tabby, lean and unimpressive. However, when Anabelle saw him, the first thing she noticed were his eyes. They blazed with the fire of one who had seen and done everything and had nothing to fear. He was short, but stood tall. He was mottled, yet a dashing soldier returned from battle. His mouth did not smile, but instead set itself in a fixed line. But when he noticed her watching him for the first time, her heart fluttered and she fell in love.

The tom was not a gentleman. In fact, he was quite rude to Anabelle and even called her rather profane names at times. But her cupidity for him was so intense that she didn't care how he treated her. She was blinded, convinced that they were meant to be. The she-cat was used to getting what she wanted, and the tom was used to having others take one look and leave him alone. Not the most compatible couple, right? Well, some way or another, the tom saw some use in Anabelle, and the two became what you could call 'mates'.

You see, the two weren't very close. Anabelle loved drama and tales of trepidation, while the tom was simply looking for food, water, and a nest. Anabelle was the only one willing to offer either to the tom, but it was quite clear that she would not do so unless there was some sort of relationship between them.

Anabelle never did grow on the tom. He found her annoying and loud, and unappreciative of the life she'd been given. Frankly, he hated being around her, and he felt ashamed to be seen in public walking by her side, but with her, he had the best resources he'd ever come across, not to mention the only ones he'd ever been offered. He didn't like Anabelle, but less than a year after they'd started their little 'arrangement', the she-cat was bearing his kits, and that was when he knew it was time to move on before he got buried any deeper into the mess that was the kittypet.

He left in the night; sneaking out from under the bush in Anabelle's twoleg's yard where she let him sleep. He slipped under the fence and left the city, gone before sunrise had even breached the horizon, not even looking back to wonder about the kits to be born.

Meanwhile, as the father of her kits was going off on his own way across the world, Anabelle was busy preparing for the time of her birth. She had at first taken her mate's disappearance hard. She wouldn't eat, and was afraid to sleep in case she dreamt of him. However, her friends told her over and over again that he would come back. They assured her that no tom in his right mind would ever leave someone as _gorgeous_ as Anabelle, and Anabelle let herself believe that he really loved her. She thought that as long as she could remain beautiful and well-off, he would come back. And so this was how she convinced herself. The queen had her kits in the safety of her home, determined to raise her offspring well so that, when their father came back, he would be proud and realize how much he really loved Anabelle.

There were three of them; strong, healthy toms with shiny little tags of their own as soon as their necks were thick enough to bear them. The first and eldest, Kegan, was a brawny little cat. He had his mother's milk and cream coat with soft blue eyes that contrasted with his bulky size. He was the oldest, and therefore believed it was his duty to do everything before his brothers. That meant that Hazel, the middle kit and also the one with the best heart, would naturally follow in his pawsteps. Hazel was a light-furred tabby, like their father, but he had his mother's warm eyes. He, sweet and outgoing, was always Rafty's favorite brother. Which brought up the appearance of said youngest; the kit with some grandsire or other's pitch black coat.

Anabelle knew at once that he was the best looking of the bunch. Of course, all three had their mother's good genes, but Anabelle decided the moment Rafty could see her that he would be her favorite. He did, after all, have his father's eyes.


	2. A Cat May Look at a King

**Author's Note:  
**Alright, I know I put the prologue and the first chapter up on the same day,  
but I usually do that just cause I'm usually in the mood to write when I start a story =3  
And cause I suck at Prologues and don't want people to immediately lose interest. xD  
Thanks again to AA and Gentle,  
and here are some Review responses!  
Don't be afraid to give feedback and criticism!  
I'd like to know what anyone thinks!

**SalamanderHat:** Heya Flamey! =D  
Yeah, I decided that in order to write this story well I needed to give a good idea of what each character was like  
and WHY they were like that.  
I too was doubtful of how well it would turn out what with me starting all the way back into Rafty's childhood.  
I gave insight into Anabelle's life because she plays a bigger role in Rafty's life through-out this fanfiction than she does on the site.  
I hope this doesn't disappoint! xD

**EveryShadeOfDeath: **Darky! =3  
Yea, it occurred to me as I was writing his bio that his history was the longest I've ever written,  
and I really got into writing about him so I figured what better way to take advantage of all this muse for Rafty  
than to make a story about him?  
Besides, I doubt he minds the attention. ^^

**Beautiful Disaster, This is Perfection**

**Chapter 1:  
A Cat May Look at a King**

Morning broke on the horizon, yet the only awareness the tom showed was the slight twitch of his delicate black ears. The sun, cautious and warm, crept upwards, bathing the sleeping feline in a golden hue that flickered across his shiny pelt. Only when it had settled comfortably at its perch in the sky did the tom finally stir. First were the forepaws, which he reached out as if to claw some invisible piece of prey. Then went his head, craning up and out from his body, while his ears folded backwards and his muzzle opened wide in a gaping yawn. Kicking his hind legs and curling his tail, he retracted back into himself almost instantly to rest his chin on the seat cushion he was nestled on. He grumbled, muttered to himself. Then finally, slowly, fluidly, he opened his eyes and saw a rather familiar face watching him.

"Kegan? What do you want?" His voice, high enough to demonstrate his young age, filled the otherwise soundless room.

Across from him, a soft-furred tom shrugged. He was big for 15 moons. Squarish, with a surprising amount of muscle for a kittypet. He was frowning thoughtfully, musing over something that Rafty could only hope to be consulted on.

"I was thinking of going on a walk, just you, me, and Hazel. We could go teach that tom from yesterday a lesson." Even as the sandy-furred tom was speaking, Rafty was rising from his quarters, amber eyes inspecting the room lazily.

Good. Things were just as he'd left them before his nap.

Turning, he looked at his older brother and smirked.

"A lesson? Don't tell me you've stooped to the level of some common stray, Kegan. Since when do Anabelle's prim and proper sons go out picking fights with street rats?" He chuckled to himself, dropping lightly to the floor and padding past his brother. It seemed he was about to leave when he paused mid-step, turning to glance over his shoulder. In all honesty, the tom wasn't as smart as he made himself out to be. In fact, he was, to put it nicely, an idiot. He just happened to be good at covering it up because he was smooth with his words. It was only beside his ever stupider brother Kegan that he seemed witty. Just because their mother taught them to look smart didn't mean they had to grow into their rolls.

"But you know, he did call us brats, so I guess I might not mind." Rafty grinned, and so too did Kegan. "Hazel can't come though." Kegan frowned at this, furrowing his brow before Rafty flicked his tail and narrowed his eyes.

"He wouldn't want to anyway. You know that. For some reason he thinks we should be nice to those strays." Rafty scoffed and marched out of the den and into the next, ignoring the stomp of the twoleg girl running down the stairs. When she swung open the door, the black tom slipped between her legs, ignoring her coos for his attention.

"He's too soft, that's why. Give him a moon or two and he'll get it." Kegan smiled as he spoke, blue eyes catching onto his brother's movements as he bounded over to follow suit.

The twoleg let them outside, and side by side the brothers walked, shadow lingering beside light. Heads high, banners risen proudly, the toms patrolled their neighborhood, dipping their heads to cats that were friends of their mother and quite obviously ignoring those who were not. At one point, when they passed by a mongrel rummaging through some twoleg's carrion, Rafty hissed an insult and Kegan lashed out at the cat's flanks in such a manner that the scrawny feline fled into the alley's depths. The brothers shared a light-hearted laugh before going off on their way once more.

"Really, no family, no friends, homeless; how can they stand to look at themselves? Don't they even bother washing up once in a while? Half the fellows on this street act like horrors, but do they really have to look like them too?" The black tom shook his head in mock-disappointment before sharing a look with his brother. The two burst into a chorus of jitters again, and spent the rest of the afternoon in this fashion.

By the time the sun was setting, the toms had gone round the streets with no sign of the tom they were looking for.

"He probably ran off when he heard word that we lived around these parts. Scaredy cat." Kegan purred in amusement, ignoring the way Rafty rolled his eyes.

"Or he doesn't live here. No one stays 'round long unless they've got a nice nest to stay at. One like ours, say." He grinned as he spotted said twoleg den up ahead. It had a nice wide yard, green with trimmed grass and white stakes all around. The den itself was arguably the most attractive on the block, and, Rafty thought, had the most appealing residents.

"Oh Rafty, Kegan! Where have you two been? I meant to introduce you to Delighla today!"

The toms turned their heads in unison to watch a round she-cat come bustling over to them. She seemed short of breath and her sandy fur was a tad ruffled from her effort to reach them, but her eyes were bright and warm and her expression proud.

"Oh! Mother, we're sorry. We completely forgot, but we can meet her tomorrow, see? Kegan and I don't have anything else to do, and I'm sure your friend doesn't mind waiting for _us._" Rafty purred, not even attempting to conceal the snobby tone in his voice.

Not responding right away, Anabelle stood there, sucking in air before she finally caught her breath.

"Now see here you two! It's not good and polite to just up and blow off someone else, especially someone who's an old friend of your mother's! Get on inside now you two, you smell like a bunch of rouges. Go clean yourselves up." The toms glanced at one another before grumbling and muttering under their breaths. Anabelle ushered them towards the twoleg nest, chattering amicably about her day as she went.

"Delighla was just deeee-_lighted_ to hear that you two were well! She met with Hazel and absolutely _adored _him. She has this nice little daughter of her own, Lilac or something and such. She thought Lilac might suit Hazel just fine, but she wanted even more to meet you, Rafty. I told her all about you and how much Andrea and Sweety enjoyed your company, so do make sure to keep your promise and be here at sun high tomo- Oh dear, is that Hazel?" When the queen stopped her chattering to stare off to the side, her sons turned and instantly bristled. Sure enough, their brother was there, all wide eyes and cheerful words as he talked to a smaller she-cat. One without tags.

In half a second, Kegan had left his kin's side and was jumping the stranger, claws unsheathed as he bowled over the smaller feline. She had just enough time to see him and let out a shrill scream of terror before she was being smashed into the grass, limbs flailing about in shock and fear. What happened next was unclear, but had something to do with Hazel screeching at his brother and pulling him away. The she-cat scrambled free and darted out from under the fence and had disappeared down the street before anyone could fully grasp what had just happened. After several seconds of heart-hammering silence, Hazel turned on Kegan.

"What the hell! Who do you think you are? She wasn't doing anything wrong!"

For a minute, the larger cat looked surprise before the fury in his gaze rose once more. He snarled and leaned down to spit in his younger brother's face.

"True! _You're_ the one that's wrong! Bringing a stray here, what were you thinking? She could have a disease, or be trying to sneak into our home! She's not good enough for you Hazel; get that already!" But Hazel would not listen. Instead, he hissed and whipped around to face Rafty and Anabelle, who were still standing there in shocked silence.

"Well? Aren't you going to say anything? Do you honestly believe this guy? Anabelle, **mom**, this is your _son._ How can you just stand there and listen to him? What kind of a family are we if we can't even stand to live in a world that has cats that are different from us?" His words had started off angry and accusing, but ever so gradually Rafty could hear the desperation rising in them. Hazel wasn't yelling at them, he was _pleading_. It was then that Rafty realized that his brother had been born with something that the rest of them had not, or at least hadn't found yet. Insanity.

"Hazel, cut this bullcrap. Face reality and man up. There are our kind," Kegan glanced at his family one by one, "and then there are her's." He looked down the street, but all was still in the settling darkness.

"Now, as far as I can tell, there's one very clear boundary that separates the two. Look here. Look at my face, Hazel." Hazel, who had grown unnaturally quiet, reluctantly lifted his head and saw his reflection in his brother's eyes, the same eyes that he had.

"We have tags. We have a home. We are _loved._ Don't let yourself get pulled into somebody else's mess. I've told you once, and I'll say it again. No brother of mine will ever, and I swear on it when I say _**ever**_ become a good for nothing stray. You're not a screw up. You're worth something." Silence reined the atmosphere, and Rafty stiffened, wanting to say something but not tasting or even feeling the words come into his mouth.

"Now get inside before that stray comes back. I don't want you to ever so much as _think _about her. Or Rafty and I will hunt her down and make sure you have nothing left to worry _about._" Kegan was hissing now, the words curling between his teeth and leaving sharper than how they'd formed. Hazel flinched visibly, and when he looked deeper, searching for some remorse in his brother's eyes, all he saw was a darkness that frightened him, and so he rushed by, pausing only when he was beside Rafty.

He looked at his younger brother, hoping for some reassurance, and it took all of Rafty's strength to harden his gaze and stare his brother down. Hazel's face fell and, dejected, he ran back through the cat-door.

Shadows swept out from the buildings, and in the distant, a wailing siren echoed forth from the city. Rafty tried to imagine the rush of twoleg monsters on the Thunderpath. He pictured a stray knocking down a carrion can and getting chased by dogs. He wondered if the imaginary cat would escape, and surprised himself by hoping the answer was 'yes'. But it didn't matter in the end, because he never found out. Anabelle's sigh and "I'll go check on him" brought him back to reality.

Rafty blinked, watching his mother slip inside the nest before turning to face Kegan.

"Don't say anything. I don't need your judgment." The larger of the two growled, staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. If Rafty didn't know any better, he'd think the tom was turning over some vital thought in his head. But this was his brother. The black tom knew Kegan wasn't looking at him because he was too ashamed of how he'd acted towards Hazel. Rafty wasn't mistaken. He knew Kegan hated strays and everything they stood for; which was nothing. But what no one else could see sometimes was that Kegan really did love Hazel. Just too much, it seemed. Rafty understood perfectly. He himself would do anything to protect their brother. Not because Hazel didn't get it (which he didn't, that was for sure), but because he was the only one out of all of them that could make anyone smile. None of their kin had to do anything special to please others. They had looks, manners, and knowledge when it came to the social ladder. But Hazel had a habit of reaching out to others whether he meant to or not. Rafty and Kegan should've resented their brother for being loved so easily by all, but instead it only warmed their feelings of kinship. They wanted nothing more than to protect him. He needed to know that he had to be hurt first in order to understand that.

"Fine. Then I won't give it. Instead, I'll tell you what I know, not what I think." Kegan looked up in surprise at his brother, but before he could register anything, Rafty was speaking again.

"You're right of course. Hazel's naïve. He doesn't get it. Perhaps he never will. But why can't you just let him be the way he is? I don't particularly mind. Watching over him is tasking, that's for sure. But I'd rather him be _him _then try acting like... Like…"

_One of us_. Their eyes finished the sentence together, and a resentful understanding dawned in Kegan's eyes.

"He could get himself killed." The burly tom's voice trailed off.

"Yes, he could."

"He'll be risking all of our reputations."

"Yes, I suppose he will."

"But he won't change. There's nothing we can do about it, eh?" He smiled brokenly, and Rafty blinked back with his father's eyes.

"We can't change him."

Kegan sighed and trotted past Rafty, brushing his brother's pelt with his own.

"Should I…?"

"No, let me. He likes me better anyways."

Kegan snorted at that and Rafty beamed before trotting ahead of his brother and going halfway through the flap. He stopped to look back.

"You can't change either, got it?" His voice was stern, almost chiding like that of a parent, and it made Kegan tilt his head questioningly.

"Yeah, sure. Why would I when being a bastard is so much fun?"

Rafty laughed and nodded "Good" before pushing all the way through and following Hazel's scent up the stairs. He was vaguely aware of Kegan's heavier paw steps entering the nest from the first floor, and Rafty figured his oldest brother was going to mull over his senseless thoughts on the sofa. Rafty's paws guided him almost instinctively towards the small space cut into the den wall. It was like a super crammed room, and their housefolk couldn't even fit in it. They just stored a bunch of their crap on the ledges inside it, but Rafty didn't have the brain to try figuring out twolegs, so he just brushed it off as another one of their strange habits. At least they didn't move things around too much, and he was able to hop up until he reached the second one to the top. There, he found Hazel curled up in a tight ball of fluffy tabby fur, face obscured by his tan pelt.

"Hey. Reckon finding you here. This is my spot you know." Rafty joked light-heartedly, nudging his brother with his nose. Hazel grunted in response and curled up tighter into himself.

"Kegan cares about you. He really does. He just doesn't want to see you get hurt." The black feline prodded his brother with one paw and was shoved back by a rather harsh kick from Hazel's hind leg.

"No, he doesn't. He thinks that because we have a nice home, and a family with pretty faces and shiny tags, that we need to treat everyone else like shi-"

"That's not true. You know, you don't exactly give him an easy time. He tries, he really does. He feels like he has to take care of us and be the bad guy all the time… Or something like that." Rafty snapped, voice dying down to a more calming tone. He didn't want to lose his temper with Hazel, especially considering the depressed state his brother was already in. Why did their family have so much drama despite being brought up in such a non-provocative environment? Ha. He'd used a big word.

"Stop acting like you know. Kegan likes you. You're mean, and stupid like him. You guys can have fun together. But _me,_" he crinkled his nose and squinted up his eyes, "_I'm_ too nice and friendly to hang out with you guys. It's hard being the good guy! You guys don't get it. Go away and leave me alone. I need to mope." With that said, Hazel flopped his head back down and burrowed again.

Now, Rafty was not known for his patience. In fact, he was second only to Kegan when it came to short-tempers. Just because he liked Hazel best out of any other cat on the block didn't make him an exception. The tom growled in the back of his throat and promptly stepped on Hazel's tail with claws unsheathed.

"YOW! WHAT THE FLYING HEDGEHOGS IS YOUR PROBLEM? CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?" The tabby yowled, jumping up from his spot and instantly recoiling as his head smacked into the bottom of the ledge above.

"No! I can't, because you're acting like some fat stray just sat on your face and passed gas! Why can't you be realistic for once? No matter how idealistic you want things to be, the point is, we have roles to fulfill in society! If you want to help anyone then you need to maintain that balance and play your part! If you go around acting nice to rouges and carrion-eaters, you'll confuse everyone and everything will fall into chaos! Don't you see? By being a snobby stick in the mud, you'll be doing the world a favor!" Rafty practically caterwauled, stopping only to catch his breath, fur on end, eyes wide with fire. Hazel stared back at him before finally breaking the chilling silence that had unfolded.

"Alright… I guess, I never thought of it that way. But, I mean, it's _hard._ I look at other cats, and I just don't get what's so different about them from us. I mean, we're all felines. We can all communicate, and feel, and think. Well, most of us can anyway." Hazel said, thinking about Kegan's rather defective state of mind.

"Just, don't think so much then. It's not hard, really. Kegan and I do it all the time. Just forget what's right from what's wrong. Go with your instincts. Why do you think cats were given claws and mouths? To pick on lesser beings of course. Survival of the fittest."

"But we don't _need_ to survive off of anything they have. We've got all this!" He motioned vaguely around them with his tail. "So why do we have to bother them when all they're trying to do is live their lives? Can't you hear yourself Rafty? None of it makes sense!" Hazel cried, sitting up and speaking urgently.

"Listen, come with me tomorrow. I'm going to be meeting a stray, one of my friends." Rafty hissed at this, but Hazel kept going. "She's a real nice gal. Sweet and pretty smart. You'll like her, I swear. Come on, don't make that face. When have you ever given a street cat the time of day or otherwise even spoken to them without some horrible vulgarity leaving your mouth? Don't even try to speak Rafty, because you know I'm right. You've been pretty horrible to these cats without even knowing what they're like. She's cool, she really is. Tomorrow at sunhigh, I'm going into the city. Anabelle and Kegan don't know. But you'll come, won't you? She knows some pretty good places to eat too. Places that have food better than tuna." Hazel smiled, and Rafty found himself smiling back, though his own was nervous compared to that of Hazel's confident, hopeful expression.

"Well… Alright. But the second I realize it's all a big hoax and that she-cat tries wooing you into bringing her home with us, I'm out. Got it?" He stared hard at Hazel, who only nodded eagerly in return.

"… Then it's settled." Rafty sighed, instantly regretting his words as Hazel let out a joyful (and rather un-tomly) squeal.

"Awesome! See? I knew you were my favorite brother! Just remember, no telling Kegan or Anabelle, yeah? I'll see you tomorrow!" Then Hazel was hopping down from his stoop and was heading for the stairs.

"Hey wait! Where are you going?" Rafty called, scrambling to catch up with his lighter and faster littermate.

"To go find my friend of course. She's probably pretty roughed up considering the way Kegan hit her. He's not exactly a heavy dieter if you know what I mean." Hazel meowed back, a concerned frown on his face as he bounded down the steps. Once he was out the door, Rafty groaned at the realization of what he'd agreed to before taking after his brother. Instead of leaving the nest however, he padded into the big room, the one with the comfy sofa that Kegan was currently sleeping on.

"Wake up lardbutt." The black cat meowed, nipping his brother's tailtip.

The cream-coated feline's eyes snapped open and he reflexively swatted outwards, catching Rafty in the side of the head and sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Foxdung, that hurt!" He hissed, struggling upright and shaking the daze from his head. He cast a sharp glare at a guilty looking Kegan before swiftly smoothing down his fur and then looking back up.

"So? How's Hazel?"

"Good."

"Yeah? So, we're cool?"

"I guess. He doesn't hate you anymore."

"Oh thank goodness. How'd you do it?"

"Erm, I have my… Way's."

Kegan looked at him suspiciously before giving in to his lazy side and deciding it wasn't worth thinking over.

"Whatever. So long as he's not throwing a tantrum anymore."

"You weren't exactly a gentleman yourself." Rafty noted, eyes narrowing as he set his haunches down.

"Yeah well, nevermind. It's over now. History. Now go away. I need my beauty sleep."

Rafty scoffed and turned around to find out if there were any more liver chops in his bowl but instead found himself face to face with Anabelle.

"Is… Is Hazel alright?" She asked nervously, needing the ground with her dainty paws.

"Yeah, I fixed things up."

Quiet followed that statement.

"You can thank me now."

"Oh right! Of course, thank you so much sweet-heart. I know I really should've been the one to talk to him, but then he just sort of hopped onto his shelf and, oh, well, you know I'm not exactly the right size to get up there."

"Yeah, I get it mom. Don't talk so loud. Kegan's trying to sleep and I'm hungry. Have fun doing whatever it is you do though." He started walking again but much to his frustration, was stopped when the she-cat waddled over to block his path.

"What is it now?" He asked with a little more hostility than he meant. Fortunately, the soft kittypet didn't seem to catch on. Instead, she continued smiling with that anxious relief that really got on Rafty's nerves sometimes.

"Well it's just, sometimes you forget things, especially once you've gotten all worked up over something else. And it's just, I was thinking that you might've forgotten to-"

"Spit it out mom."

"Delighla tomorrow. Remember that she wants you to meet her daughter, Lilac. And don't be late this time. You know the time?" She quirked her brow and the tom blanked, trying to connect with what she was saying. A few seconds later, recognition clicked in his mind.

"Sunhigh?" He meowed.

"Yes! Good boy! Now run along. I have to go take my nap now."

"Won't this be your 5th one today?"

"Oh no sweetpea. It's the 9th. I need to keep my strength up. The housefolk down the street just got a new cat after old Franky, you remember him, yes?"

"The fat black and white fellow with one whisker?"

"Yes, him. Well, you'll also remember how he died recently-"

"Yeah, choked on a shoelace or something."

"Yes, well, their new cat is this tom with a pedigree and oh, well, you know how it is. Bella and Andrea met him and so they told Sweety and she's just so shy, the dear. She wanted me to accompany her in chatting up the handsome devil."

He gave her a look that clearly said "I'm judging you right now".

"Don't give me that, Rafty. You know I'm in love with your father. Oh, speaking of which, now that you boys are all grown, he must be coming home soon to see you, so I want the three of you to be on your best behavior until he does. No more getting in fights with those disgusting little outdoor rodents. Wouldn't want you catching something, or worse; uglifying your beautiful pelts with those horrid bumpy scar things."

It was easy to see where Rafty and Kegan's intellectual genes came from.

"You'll make sure to pass this all on to your brothers, won't you?" She asked, waiting for her favorite son to please her as always. And, never one to disappoint, Rafty smiled back sweetly.

"Of course mother. I'll tell them as soon as I next see them together."

"Oh just wonderful! Now, I'll be napping if you need anything." Then the plump she-cat was sidling over to her favorite sleeping spot, a soft colorful patch of flooring that Rafty was sure used to be some kind of animal.

Glad to have his mother out of his fur, the tom cat headed into the cleanest den in the nest. It always smelled of food and the housefolk tended to go in on a routine schedule. Morning, afternoon, and night. Though lately it seemed the twoleg girl hadn't been coming back as often.

_Maybe she goes on walks too._ Rafty thought as he frowned down at his empty bowl.

Grumbling in mild irritation, he slipped outside and sat down on the steps. The twoleg male would be back soon, which meant that if he whined loud enough and purred and rubbed against him, he might get some extra treats to nibble on. Maybe even some of that bacon stuff. Yum.

_No one else gets it this good. Not even Delighla and her prissy little daughter._

And then it snapped. The tom's eyes widened and he did a double-take. Sunhigh meant something, didn't it? His mouth went dry and he let out a groan. Of all the labels he'd been given, this was not one he'd wanted to add on. Idiot, snob, charmer, bastard, rah, brat. And now he was a liar. But to whom?


	3. Liars Have it Easy

**Author's Note:  
**Phew! Yeah, so, I know this one took like 8 billion years.  
Honestly, I'm surprised there aren't any new species that've popped up yet.  
But seriously, sorry this took so long D;  
It's not much worth waiting for, but I hope it's at least mildly entertaining!  
Oh Hazel, you poor little kittieh you...  
Awww, you need a hug...  
(Pssst, collective criticism is greatly desired! I know I've got at least 10 [billion] grammatical errors in there as well!)

**To Nightkill:  
**Why thank you!  
Though there's always room for improvement =3  
**To Salamander B. Hat:  
**Oh Gawd how I dread having to include details -flails-  
Anywho, thanks for following =3  
Wanna know another thing Shale and Hazel have in common?

Hopefully Minx isn't around... _..._... phew.

**Beautiful Disaster, This is Perfection  
Chapter 2:  
Liars Have it Easy**

"You there, what's your name?" Rafty asked, eyes narrowed as he stared at the cat's back. The other feline was clearly a rouge. The fur between its shoulder blades was ragged and unkempt, showing the faintly paler scarred skin beneath. His lips pulled back in disgust, but mostly out of irritation at the fact that the cat was ignoring him.

"Hey you!" The cat stopped eating and went still, crouched with its head buried in the spilled twoleg contents of the black skinned bulge it'd torn open.  
"Quit stuffing your gut and turn around when I speak to you."

The other cat slowly raised its head and sat back on its haunches, lifting one paw to lick clean. Rafty tried to peek over the cat's shoulder to catch a glimpse of its face, but the dark shadows of the alleyway only succeeded in making the other tom seem suddenly sinister. Rafty swallowed and looked over to his side. Hadn't Kegan been with him just moments ago? Something wasn't right.

"Who is it exactly that you are speaking to then?" The other cat's words made Rafty stiffen. Then the loner turned and set his amber eyes on Rafty and the black tom let out a screech of terror as he found himself falling into his own golden gaze and deep down into the pits of a fiery chasm that condemned him to a fate far worse than death.

The tom woke with a start, eyes flying wide and a choked mewl gurgling up from his throat. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the harsh sunlight filtering through the window. If he could sweat, he would have. Instead, his breathing came in rapid gulps, black flanks rising and falling to the speed of pouring rain.

_What the Hell was that? _He thought, but before he could dwell on the matter a far more important issue was pulling him up to his paws faster than you could say "Liar".

_The sun! Fox-dung, now I'll have both of them on my case._

The tom hurriedly dropped from his nest on the shelf without balancing his weight, causing him to wince as the impact jarred his forelegs. The bedroom and stair rail whizzed by as, irritation sparking due to the combination of being late, being tired, and having had a weird ass dream, Rafty raced as fast as his legs could carry him. However, he _did_ have the decency to pause right before exiting through the cat flap. The reason for this was so he could give his fur a quick pass over. When he was confident that no tangled clumps or sleep-spikes were visible, he took a deep breath and stepped out into the world.

This move turned out to be a horrible mistake, because Anabelle was right across the Thunderpath, marching towards the twoleg den with a fowl look on her usually sweet face. When he caught sight of her, he contemplated ducking back into the nest and zipping into the backyard through one of the windows before she noticed him, but it was too late as she looked up from her thoughts and hissed upon sighting her son.

"Rafty! I go out for a walk, then expect to meet you at Delighla's, but… Where on Earth were you?"

Even from across the thunderpath the she-cat's voice was audible when he wished it was not. The tom looked to his right, wondering if perhaps he should slink into the hedges and disappear that way. It would be a close call, but he knew his mother was too pudgy to squeeze through the tangle of foliage, which would stall her long enough for him to-

The next thing Rafty knew, the hostile feline was right up in his face, leaning forward with ears pulled back against her round head.

_Whoops. Too late._

"No, it's not my fault, see, I just-" He was silenced by a force to the side of his head that hurt him more on the inside than anywhere else. Golden eyes widened in shock and his jaw dropped as, stunned speechless, the young tom gawked at his mother.

"Did you just…."

His voice trailed off and he wasn't sure whether to be angry, ashamed, or just plain hurt. His mother had _never_ chided him. Not in the least. And to suddenly _hit _him of all things? It was more so the fact that it was all so unexpected that really threw Rafty a bad one. What was worse was that Anabelle herself seemed confused for a moment, as if she was only just realizing that she'd struck her favorite son, even if her claws had been sheathed and it'd been no more than a stronger-than-normal cuff to the face.

"No, I didn't mean…" The she-cat trailed off uncertainly.

"Yes, you did." That was Rafty, growing ever _more _certain.

The fact that one side was in denial and the other was unwanting to accept but unable to ignore the smarting in his right temple created a controversial scenario for mother and son that could only result in a negative outcome.

"But I didn't mean to so-"

"It doesn't change the fact that you did it."

"But… But you were late so I needed to show you-"

"Show me _what_, exactly? **I slept in! That's it! **You think I tried blowing you off?" _Though even if I had woken up on time I probably would've chosen Hazel over you…_

The tom's face fell impossibly further.

"Oh shiiiiiii-"

"Language!"

"Hazel!"

"Ha-… What?"

Anabelle never did get an answer though, for Rafty had taken off, sleek form zipping past her and down the sidewalk as he ran at full speed towards the silhouetted outlines of the skyscrapers.

_Please let them still be there. Please, __**please, PLEASE!**_

The tom didn't bother checking to see if Anabelle was following. Even if she was, she would've given up by then. Not only was she overweight, but her legs were as stout and useless as tree stumps. Nonetheless, he ran faster, nose raised in the air to catch any familiar signs of his brother.

* * *

After no more than 5 minutes of scouring the outer city alleyways, Rafty found him alright. Just not the one he was looking for. The scene that Rafty stumbled across almost escaped his gaze. See, as he was running and just merging into the towering twoleg nests, the overwhelming stench of rouge almost bowled him over. Disgusted, he turned his gaze briefly to the side and skidded to a paw-smarting stop when he saw not just Hazel, but Kegan too. He didn't think it was them at first until he recognized their scents amidst the acidity in the air. But when he saw the larger cat shift its burly honeydew frame, and upon noting the nervous shuffle to the slighter tabby's arrangement, he knew it was them.

"You two! What-"

Rafty's voice was drowned out (it seemed to be happening a lot lately, which was really a pity because, according to him anyway, whenever he had something to say it was most definitely important and completely relevant) when Kegan let out an earsplitting yowl of rage and leaped at Hazel. The youngest brother's heart stopped in horror. What was Kegan _**DOING?**_ Rafty had let his eldest brother's harsh discipline towards Hazel slide most of the time, but that was because it had never laid a scratch on the amicable tom.

The black feline wasted no time in leaping to Hazel's rescue, but he was stopped by his own confusion upon realizing that Kegan was not pouncing on their brother, but rather someone directly in front of him that Rafty had not noticed at first due to the angle he was standing at. Wasn't that she she-cat from yesterday?

Something wet splashed Rafty in the face, causing him to recoil. Immediately he knew it was blood. The sound of fighting, hissing, Hazel's desperate plea; they were all lost to the tom as, in a panic to escape the sticky red fluid on his pelt, he backed up until his shell-shocked frame was pressed up against the wall of the alleyway. A screech jerked his attention back to the fight only to find that there wasn't one. He saw the she-cat's tail whip around the corner, knocking down one of the silver twoleg barrels as she went so that Hazel had to swiftly jump out of the way to avoid being crushed. The resounding metal filled the eerie silence as Kegan and Hazel struggled to catch their breath while Rafty, on the other hand, had not taken a single one during the entire incident.

Swallowing tentatively, he sorted through his thoughts at a furious pace. He wasn't the smartest of cats, but he had common sense, and as soon as he'd pulled himself together, Rafty blinked and did a quick visual check of his brother's injuries. Hazel seemed fine, _Thank goodness;_ Rafty had feared his brother would get caught up in the skirmish in an attempt to protect someone. Rafty left the identity of that 'someone' undisclosed to himself, because he preferred to believe Hazel would jump to the defense of his own kin over that of a mottled she-cat lacking in any sort of dignity and therefore relevant existence to his family. And as he looked over to give Kegan the same inspection, he was actually surprised to find that the burly tom cat was looking rather ruffed up, his normally impeccabley groomed fur sticking out here and there, and, _Oh no_, was that a clump of mud in his pelt? Momentarily forgetting about what had just gone down, Rafty gave in to his compulsiveness and made to get the gunk out of his brother's fur when Hazel beat him to it by literally launching himself in a sudden manner at their eldest brother, managing to tackle the other tom to the Earth out of sheer willpower (or so Rafty assumed, though naturally Kegan was exhausted and caught off-guard). The black cat's legs stiffened, and he stared at Hazel with something akin to disbelief and mistrust. No, Hazel wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone his own brother.

"**Why? **_**Why do you have to ruin EVERYTHING?**_ What were you doing? I thought I told you to stay out of my business!" The green-eyed tom spat, his voice a flurry of venom and distress, his gaze burning down at Kegan in so uncharacteristic a manner that Rafty had to keep from taking a fearful step back.

"She never did _anything _to you! She did **NOTHING!** You want to do what's best for me? Let me live my life! **I **get to choose my friends! Not you or anyone else!" The tabby was hardly stopping for breath now, his fangs bared to the open air, his eyes wide with an emotion Rafty had never seen before, let alone expected to make its appearance in the form of his beloved littermate. He swallowed, barely hanging onto Hazel's words as the tom suddenly turned his angry gaze on him.

"And you! This is _**your **_fault! I thought I could trust you, but you went and told Kegan and then didn't even have the courage to come with him!"

"WHAT? That's not true! I didn't- I never told anyone!" Rafty sputtered, managing to summon enough courage to move closer in the hopes that Hazel wouldn't do something rash like dig his claws into Kegan's throat, which the tom was currently pinned down by.

"Oh yea, that's right. Because Rafty never makes mistakes. He's _perfect_. Nothing anyone in our family does can _ever _be wrong. Face it Rafty. You're a liar!" The words stung but the black cat held his ground, anger at being accused rising, even if technically Hazel was right just, not about that particular situation. Meanwhile, Hazel, who'd been distracted by his younger brother, had let up his hold on Kegan long enough for the cream-coated tom to wriggle free and skitter a safe distance away. Rafty and Hazel diverged their attention to the heavily panting tom who returned their gazes with a confused look of his own.

`"Told me what? What's going on?" The eldest hissed, still shaky from Hazel's surprise attack.

"That I was meeting Larch! Rafty, you swore you wouldn't tell anyone and now, if she dies because Kegan knew where she would be and hurt her, I'll never talk to you **ever AGAIN!"** Hazel yowled.

"Wait a minute! Rafty never told me anything! I followed you from our home when I saw you leaving!" Kegan meowed, jumping to Rafty's defense before suddenly casting the black feline a shocked and accusatory look that clearly said 'How could you?' as realization dawned on him. Luckily for Rafty, it seemed he was to be left out of the argument. For now.

"You _followed_ me? What, so you figured you couldn't trust me?" Now it was Hazel's turn to look stunned.

"Is that a joke? You brought some tramp onto our territory-"

"Don't you dare call her that!" Hazel screeched, unsheathing his claws and lunging once more, but this time it was Rafty who got in the way, jumping between them with just enough time for Hazel to stop himself.

"Whatever! The point is, I was right, wasn't I? You **were** seeing her! Even after we all told you not to! Are you deft or something?" Kegan continued, ranting angrily as the situation heated up.

"The point isn't that I was seeing her, it's that I was going against what you wanted! This isn't about pedigrees or family backgrounds, Hell, _**our father is a ROUGE!**_ This is just about you and Mom and everyone else in that stupid little stuck-up neighborhood wanting control! If one cat steps out of line, it brings your whooooole little system down, is that it? Rafty, am I wrong? You said that just last night!" The black tom flinched as the conversation found its way back to him, as it always did.

At this, Kegan's eyes narrowed into suspicious blue slits.

"Control? This was never about control. It's about right and wrong. It's just… It's just wrong for our kind to hang around their kind! And what's that Rafty told you? It seems a lot of this keeps coming back to you." The tom growled, and suddenly the black cat felt trapped between his littermates. Then again, he was technically sandwiched since he just _**had **_to play the hero and cut off Hazel's follow up strike.

"Hey, I didn't start _any_ of this."

"Then what's going on? Someone better explain this to me right now before I rip something apart." Kegan hissed, scraping his claws against the concrete suggestively.

"Stop it, just… Everyone shut up and let me think!" Hazel shouted, his voice echoing as his brothers silenced themselves. The tabby seemed to be calming himself as he took deep, even breaths, closing green eyes before finally letting his fur lie flat and his claws to slide back into their holds. When he looked back up, there was only contemplation in his emerald depths.

"Last night, after _you_, Kegan, chased off Larch, I had a talk with Rafty and he tried being all preachy and persuasive about how treating rouges badly is a good thing because we're better than they are and they should know it."

"Well, good for him." Kegan said, not even bothering to conceal the smug look of pride on his face as he glanced at a cautious looking Rafty.

"…. And then I explained to him that I can never accept that way of living. It's not right, being so horrible to others. They never did anything to us. They never even come _close_ to us because of you two. We keep talking about being better than them, but we're always the ones starting things and dragging them into our business…." Silence.

"But of course, Rafty didn't get it because he's no different from you and Mom. Still, I think he wanted to help, so I asked him to come with me today, at sunrise, into the city to meet Larch and come to realize that rouges aren't as bad as we make them out to be." The corners of his mouth slowly dipped into a frown as he finished up with, "But Rafty never came. Instead, _you _did."

"Well it's not like you told me where we were going!" Rafty huffed in his own defense, while Kegan let out an irritated snort.

"Why would you even go with him in the first place? To meet a _Rouge?_ I can't believe you Rafty." Kegan muttered, shaking his head in a way that should have made Rafty ashamed but instead just succeeded in pissing the tom cat off.

"If you'd been with me at sunhigh it wouldn't have mattered where we were going!" Then, as if just stumbling across a new clue, Hazel tilted his head ever so slightly. "Wait, where _were _you at sunhigh?"

"Ummm…." Amber orbs trailed off to the side as the tom averted both littermates' gazes. Then he coughed ever so conspicuously. "Maybe I slept in a little."

"Uhgggg, you're unbelievable. A liar _AND_ a flake. You really suck Rafty."

"Hey, you should've woken me up!"

"I didn't need to do anything for you!"

"Stop it! This is stupid! You're **BOTH **stupid!" Ironic, coming from Kegan. "Stop arguing about schedules and get back to the main issue at hand. We can't have cats from our family running around with strays! It reflects badly on all of us! Hazel, think about it. If you don't see get what we're saying, than look at it this way. Do it for our sakes. Mom is nothing without her social network, and if anyone finds out that one of her sons has been sneaking around with a homeless she-cat, she could lose everything." The dire urgency in Kegan's voice almost made Hazel vomit in disbelief.

"Lose _everything?_ She'd still have a roof over her head, food and milk in her bowls, and a warm bed and the love and affection of her kin and housefolk! That's more than any rouge has had! Larch is just a cat like anyone else! How can you justify mistreating her like that?"

"Look, obviously none of us are getting through to one another, so why don't we call it a day and go home. The heat's getting to us, and if we head back we can settle all of this in a calmer environment." Rafty reasoned, showing a sudden spark of sense though he had ulterior motives. Truth be told, the tom was beginning to be bothered by the horrible alleyway stenches and he was getting paranoid, having sworn there was a giant rat lurking in the shadows, waiting to jump him…

"Fine. Not like we're accomplishing anything out here, anyways." Hazel muttered, turning and already heading out of the alleyway, his head high as if in defiance of what had just gone down.

Kegan, on the other hand, left in quite a different manner. His body had begun to ache from the beatings he'd received, not to mention how hard he'd braced his sore, untrained muscles when Hazel had been about to attack again. He would have thanked Rafty had he not been so worked up over proving that everyone else was wrong but himself. It was a tendency that ran in his family.

Rafty, on the other hand, was just glad to see his brothers listening to someone for a change, and he followed them out into the open, where they proceeded to head home in a painful, heavy silence.


End file.
